Trump did not threaten to leave NATO, Macron says

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French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a press conference on the second day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2018. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Donald Trump did not directly threaten to leave the NATO security alliance during a summit on Thursday.

Some news agencies reported the U.S. president had threatened to pull out of the 70-year-old alliance over frustration with member states’ lack of commitment to agreed goals including spending 2 percent of GDP on defence.

But Macron said no direct threat was issued. NATO sources said that while Trump warned that the U.S. could “go it alone” if others didn’t step up, it fell short of a direct threat to formally withdraw. [nB5N1U700C]